During the decades of the ‘70’s, ‘80’s, and extending into the ‘90’s, attempts were made to grow avocado plants in an area of Southwest Florida near the town of Immokalee. Cold winter weather and repeated freezes eventually overcome most of the attempts by killing the trees or their fruit before they could reach maturity. Two varieties, however, were able to reach maturity. These were the ‘Monroe’, a type “B” flower, and the ‘Brooks Late’, a type “A” flower. Flowers on type “A” trees open as female in the morning of the first day and as male the afternoon of the following day. On type “B” trees the flowers open as female in the afternoon on the first day and as male on in the morning of the following day. Hence, the flower “types” are female: male complementary with respect to their periods of opening.
The ‘Monroe’ was larger, and could be used by customers who want large slices. The ‘Brooks Late’ was the latest maturing, but was too small for commercial sales. Cross pollination of these two varieties was attempted in an effort to produce an avocado having the best characteristics of each.
Cultivar ‘Monroe’ was used as male and ‘Brooks Late’ as female in 1999 in Immokalee, Fla. Several hundred cross-pollinated fruits were harvested and the seeds were planted in a lime stone soil in 1999 in Homestead, Fla. From those seeds, plants that did not show healthy growth, or those which showed signs of being overly susceptible to the scap fungus disease were discarded. Of the remaining plants, only one plant of the ‘Wheeling’ variety not only showed tolerance to scab but also matured in February to early March, and shows promise for commercial development.